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Strategic Rail Authority

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the budgeted running costs are of the Strategic Rail Authority in 2001–02. [33991]

Mr. Spellar: Within its total budget for 2001–02 of £1.9 billion, the Strategic Rail Authority was set a running cost limit of £44.332 million.

14 Feb 2002 : Column 556W

London Underground

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) if he will list the targets for each of the London underground lines for (a) points failure, (b) signal failure and (c) power train failure by (i) 2007 and (ii) 2012 under the proposed PPP; [35330]

(2) what new rolling stock will be available on each of the London underground lines by (a) 2007 and (b) 2012 under the proposed PPP. [35331]

Mr. Spellar: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 13 February 2002, Official Report, column 397W, by the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Mr. Jamieson), to the hon. Member for South-West Hertfordshire (Mr. Page) [35828].

Repossessions

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many court repossessions of property there were, broken down by region, in each of the last 15 years; and if he will make a statement. [34605]

Mr. Wills: I have been asked to reply.

Statistical information for each region cannot be provided prior to 1990, as the manual figures collated are no longer available. However, national figures for this period are available from 1986 until 1989. Data collated by region from 1990 onwards are set out in the table. This shows possession warrants executed on mortgaged and rented properties in England and Wales from 1990 until 2001.

Possession warrants executed (mortgaged and rented properties), England and Wales, 1990 to 2001

Region	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
East Anglia(23)	1,590	2,144	1,873	1,515	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
East Midlands	2,441	4,487	3,245	2,842	3,148	3,663	3,668	3,924	5,099	5,363	4,511	3,878
Eastern(24)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	4,546	4,375	4,541	3,911	4,393	4,461	4,129	3,986
London	12,659	17,320	21,662	16,052	13,992	14,417	11,851	13,067	18,596	21,071	19,800	21,834
Merseyside(25)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	842	816	825	1,087	1,269	1,793	1,719	3,789
North East	1,363	1,913	1,989	1,722	1,654	1,788	1,707	1,970	2,285	3,003	2,353	2,353
North West	3,297	4,642	5,175	5,132	3,933	5,019	5,389	5,883	5,506	6,804	6,318	5,456
South East	9,401	14,606	13,304	10,909	7,636	8,002	6,943	6,076	6,635	6,996	5,519	6,085
South West	3,149	4,478	4,016	3,899	3,335	3,545	3,103	2,939	3,245	3,655	2,549	2,041
Wales	2,207	2,726	2,698	2,302	2,907	2,094	2,036	2,593	3,075	3,090	3,079	3,079
West Midlands	3,170	5,205	4,808	3,907	4,161	4,138	4,293	4,639	5,255	6,755	6,145	7,535
Yorkshire and Humber	2,522	3,618	3,669	3,053	3,068	3,239	3,665	4,333	4,825	5,747	5,448	5,563

⁽²³⁾ East Anglia region was absorbed into the eastern region in 1994

⁽²⁴⁾ Pre-1994 the eastern region was a combination of the east Anglia and part-south eastern regions

⁽²⁵⁾ Pre-1994 the Merseyside region formed part of the north west region

Fire Services Act

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if the Government plans to review section 32 of the Fire Services Act 1947. [33782]

Dr. Whitehead: Section 32 provides that no member of a police force should be employed as a member of a local authority fire brigade. The Government are working with the fire service to consider the requirements for modernising the service, including the legislative arrangements. The application of section 32 will be included in that work.

14 Feb 2002 : Column 557W

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Working Conditions and Practices

Dr. Cable: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many cases of work-related stress have been reported in his Department; how much compensation has been paid to employees; how many work days have been lost due to work-related stress, and at what cost; what procedures have been put in place to reduce work-related stress, and at what cost, in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [35939]

Mr. Leslie: The information requested is not available as certification does not distinguish between work related and non-work related stress. No compensatory payments have been made for any stress-related absence.

The Cabinet Office is aware of its legal responsibilities to reduce stress at work and provides in-house guidance and training to its managers. It also encourages, where possible, flexible working arrangements that allow for both work and home commitments to be accommodated.

Regulatory Impact Assessment

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what information the Government publish on the relative performance of Government Departments with respect to regulatory impact assessment; [36973]

(2) if the regulatory impact assessment guidelines issued by the Cabinet Office will be made mandatory. [36974]

Mr. Leslie: The Government do not publish information on the relative performance of Government Departments with respect to regulatory impact assessments.

All Government Departments and agencies are required to produce regulatory impact assessments for proposed regulations that could impact on business, charities or the voluntary sector.

Health and Safety (Computers)

Dr. Cable: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many employees in his office who regularly use computers have taken up the provision of a free eye test; and how this service is advertised to (a) current and (b) new staff. [36690]

Mr. Leslie: The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, effective January 1993, require employers to provide and pay for, upon request from an employee, an eye and eyesight test. There is a requirement for further tests at regular intervals; the optometrist doing the first test can recommend when the next one should be. In addition, employers must pay the cost of special spectacles required where normal ones cannot be used.

I can confirm that 127 staff who regularly use computers within the Cabinet Office have taken up the offer of a free eye test between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2001.

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The service is advertised to current staff on the Personnel website. This information is brought to the attention of new staff through the e-induction package which links in to the relevant Personnel website.

Industrial Action

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many days have been lost owing to industrial action by staff in his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each of the last four years. [36183]

Mr. Leslie: None.

Departmental Website

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total cost of his Department's website was in real terms in each of the last four years; and how many hits it received in each of those years. [36207]

Mr. Leslie: The information is as follows:

1. Total expenditure on design, hosting and security for the Cabinet Office website (http:// www.cabinet-office.gov.uk) over the past four years was:

	£
1998–99	17,000
1999–2000	10,500
2000–01	100,170
2001–02	12,337

These figures exclude VAT and staff costs. The significant increase in 2000–01 was due to security recovery following a successful hacking incident in July 2000.

2. In accordance with the Office of the E-envoy's Guidelines for UK Government websites, greater importance is given to the statistical features of page impressions and unique visitors rather than hits (which is recorded in both homepage and entire site amounts), therefore these criteria have also been supplied for the years in question (January to December unless where indicated):

1998

No recorded statistics/data

1999

(Recorded from April to December)

Page impressions—185,073

Unique visitors—1,276

Hits for homepage—170,358

Successful hits for entire site—187,303

2000

(Months of July to September not recorded due to hacking)

Page impressions—1,237,709

Unique visitors—67,745

Hits for homepage—233,037

Successful hits for entire site—1,933,738

2001

Page impressions—7,172,623

Unique visitors—424,596

Hits for homepage—459,506

Successful hits for entire site—12,588,868.

14 Feb 2002 : Column 559W

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